Suiting Up For Fatherhood
by Disneylover4eva
Summary: One-shots of Tony and Pepper experiencing parenthood with their daughter Morgan featuring sweet moments with Peter Parker.
1. Gender Reveal

***Occurs after Infinity War, Tony and Pepper are married, and all the avengers are FINE and NOT dead because they returned from turning to dust***

Tony Stark could be found working in his workshop tuning up his newest iron man suit. With the soothing background music of AC/DC blaring from nearby speakers, he let out a large sigh as some of the code he was using to reprogram the suit failed yet again. He was more than determined to get this kink out of the suit before he planned to take it out on a test fly at the end of the week.

"Friday, comense rescaning on Mark 147." He huffed out exhibiting his irritated mood, as he commanded his AI assistant to help fix the problem at hand. He then took a sip from the glass of iced tea and wiped the forming sweat off his brow as he awaited her response.

The Mark 147 was so important to Tony because it would be the first suit to run on clean, renewable, and sustainable energy which would pave the way with future technologies for Stark Industries.

"System currently at 90% successful readiness; however, I am detecting a small error in the landing protocol." The AI promptly replied.

It was as if a light bulb lit up in Tony's head as he sat up straight from previously slouching and rolled his leather chair closer to the computer monitor. Fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard, he quickly was able to locate and repair the code to get the landing systems back up and running.

"And that is how it's done!" He beamed proud of his work as he spun around in the rolly chair.

"Congratulations, Mr. Stark, the Mark 147 is complete and ready to fly" Friday responded, interrupting his celebration.

Tony was just about to get up from his seat and tell Pepper the good news until something else had caught his attention. A shrill buzz sounded from his iPhone alerting him that a new text message had been received.

Softly returning down to the chair, he pressed his thumb to the screen, displaying a picture of Pepper from their wedding day, which activated the phone's touch ID to unlock the phone, then he navigated his way to the messaging icon at the bottom of the screen.

The message read: "Amazing day today! I managed to get this cat out of a tree in Central Park and it was the first time my sandwich order didn't get messed up at the new deli I go to. Also, out of curiosity, when are the avengers going to assemble or whatever because I'm not sure I'm on the email chain or super secret group text or something."

Tony let out a small chuckle after reading the text.

"Oh kid, always wanting more I see" he said under his breath before responding back.

His message read: "Good work on keeping up with the whole 'Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' routine, but I don't see any need for the crew to meet up just yet, thankfully since no big purple guy is threatening the universe anymore, but if something comes up I'll let you know. You're an Avenger Peter, don't ever forget that."

Tony decided after the whole ordeal with Thanos that Peter deserved to have more of him in his life and not just get short updates of Peter's doings from Happy anymore. He knew the boy looked up to him and was the closest thing he had to a father figure in his life, so Tony stepped up to be that person for Peter. Plus, Happy was complaining and getting more and more unhinged from the constant contact with the boy, so he took the reins which effectively increased Happy's mood further on.

He came out of his own thoughts and noticed that Peter was in the process of replying as the three grey dots were flashing back and forth. Expecting more protesting about any new Avenger's Initiatives, Tony was surprised to see what Peter had sent.

There was no physical text included as it was just a gif of a cartoon dog sitting in the middle of a burning room with a text bubble over his head saying 'this is fine'.

This response had thrown Tony for a loop. He did not imagine dealing with a teenager this soon in his life, but there he was trying his best to understand something that Peter had described as 'meme culture'. He would do almost anything to try to connect to Peter more, so if having Peter and his friends school him on social media and vine references, then so be it.

Tony hadn't had the best father son relationship in the past, as he could remember throughout his entire childhood that his dad never had said he loved him or even liked him, so it was a huge learning curve when first dealing with Peter. However, after some time and a galactic trip to Titan with Peter, where he had to witness the second most agonizing experience in his life after watching his parents murder...Peter turning to dust as he held him in his arms, Tony knew when Peter, along with the others, miraculously returned that he would never let him down again.

It was the hardest fight of his life knowing that Peter was what only seemed to be dead in Tony's mind, but the pain from losing Peter only fueled the fire to motivate him to defeat Thanos once and for all.

Tony thought long and hard about what to send Peter in response to the gif, but he eventually decided to just play along and sent an emoji of the OK hand gesture, thinking that would suffice with the teenager.

The sound of Pepper's voice traveled downstairs causing Tony to put his phone in his pants pocket and jump up from his chair to make his way to his wife.

Arriving upstairs to the foyer, his eyes were drawn to the ever so expanding bulge in Pepper's stomach. She had been pregnant for five months now, but Tony was always amazed at the beautiful life that was growing inside her.

He had stopped in his tracks to marvel at her, temporarily ignoring what she was trying to convey to him. All he could picture in this moment was being a father, and to be honest, he was extremely nervous about it. He could picture him and his son, whom he planned to name Morgan after Pepper's estranged uncle, in the yard playing ball or the both of them tinkering together in the workshop, but he was not confident on how to get to that point in his child's life.

His parents did not truly raise him, as he was handed off to nanny after nanny, and his only real relationship with a son is with Peter, but he had no part in raising him either.

Tony thought being Iron Man was a huge responsibility, but he was slowly coming to terms that being a father to his own son would offer an even bigger challenge.

He snapped out of his daze when he noticed that Pepper was literally snapping in his face. She must had noticed that he was not paying any attention whatsoever to their conversation and was sick of his lack of response.

"Tony, are you hearing anything I'm saying!" She blurted out after finishing her snapping storm.

Tony's eyes darted to hers and he straightened his posture as he fell to her attention.

"Oh yeah Pep, why wouldn't I be?" He lied in attempt to save himself from an impending wrath from his now seemingly angered wife.

"You know what Tony, I cannot believe you. We are now running twenty minutes late to the ultrasound just because you've been down in the workshop and now you're ignoring me." She ranted as she crossed her arms in disapproval.

"Oh shoot, the ultrasound! What are we doing standing around? Let's get going. Come on Pep. By the way you are looking especially beautiful today" He said as he urgently rushed her in the direction of the garage before kissing her quickly on the cheek.

Pepper smiled at the small affectionate gesture made by her husband to try to make up for his tardiness, but she made a mental note to make him pay for that later.

It was a quick car ride to the doctor's office, due to Tony's speeding, but the couple managed to get there only fourteen minutes late.

The bell chimed on the glass door, alerting the woman at the front desk of their arrival.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stark I presume. Glad you've made it. Doctor Pierce is ready to see you now, just this way." She greeted them and happily led them to a room labeled number four.

Tony was first to the door and, being the gentleman he was, opened it for Pepper to enter first.

Doctor Pierce was in the middle of setting various gels and instruments on the metal table before standing up to shake both Tony and Pepper's hands,

"It's so nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Stark, a pleasure really. I'm very honored to be carrying out this ultrasound and revealing the baby's gender as planned." He beamed as he finally let his grip go from Tony's grasp.

"Ah yes, that is quite the honor doc, you will be the first to learn the gender of the protege of Iron Man" Tony boastfully replied.

Pepper slapped him in the stomach to show her disapproval of Tony's ego on her way to the examining chair.

Tony immediately silenced and sat down on a chair next to her, not wanting this ultrasound to go down on a bad note. He wanted this moment to be perfect when he could finally see his son.

The doctor began to rub the gel on Pepper's stomach and booted up the rather large, boxy, white monitor.

"Just a few more seconds and you can finally meet your child" the doctor reassured them as he moved the probe around on Pepper's stomach.

The screen's static began to clear up and an image finally appeared on screen. At this moment Tony reached out to hold Pepper's hand making sure she'd know that he was there for her. This was their first child and they were taking a big step towards a huge milestone in both of their lives. They heavily relied on each other for support in this moment.

Tony teared up slightly when he gazed into the image of their child that he could not wait to start a life with. Pepper, on the other hand, was full out crying as she stared into the machine, not even looking away when Tony stroked her cheek in attempt to wipe away some stray tears.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stark, meet your daughter."

This statement immediately pulled both soon to be parents from their intense fixation on the monitor and towards Doctor Pierce.

Tony was the first to speak.

"Did you just say 'daughter'?"

Pepper now was the one reaching out to comfort him. She had known he was picturing a son since before she had even told him that she was pregnant, so this must have been a surprise for her husband.

"Tony, are you okay babe?" She questioned trying to gage his reaction to this news.

He paused for a minute before replying back..."I guess it's a good thing that Morgan is a unisex name then, huh Pep?"

And at that very moment, Tony was ready to suit up for fatherhood to welcome and raise his daughter. As long as Pepper was by his side, he knew everything would be work out just fine.


	2. Homecoming

The fluorescent lights of the bustling hospital halls were one of the many factors that were starting to get on Tony's nerves. He was so anxious to finally see his newborn daughter after helping Pepper get through a five hour experience of the 'miracle of life'. He didn't have much time to sneak a peak of his newborn as the hospital staff rushed her away for cleaning and other mandatory care only moments after she had came into the world.

Tony re-entered the room and glanced at Pepper who was exhausted after enduring five hours of what sounded to be excruciating pain. She laid on the white bed covered in sweat, but her breathing became steady as she was relieved for it to be over. Tony couldn't help but smile at the sight of her right now in this moment. He knew she had always been strong, as she had saved his life countless times in the face of danger, but there was something about the fact that she had just given birth to their first child that made him cherish and look up to her even more.

"Pepper?" Tony asked as he reached to place a hand on her shoulder, noticing that she was starting to nod off.

"Hmm, what is it? Is she back yet?" Pepper sleepily questioned, as she began to regain her consciousness.

"No, not quite yet, but I think they're coming back soon and I wanted you to be awake for this. After all you did all the work." Tony laughed out, trying to ease her mood as he had just woken her up.

Just like magic, the handle on the door to their hospital room began to turn and a smiling nurse wearing pink scrubs had entered the room carrying his most treasured gift...their newborn daughter. Pepper proceeded to sit up at attention at the sound of the handle turning and covered her mouth unable to speak out of pure joy at seeing her daughter for the first time. Tears trickled down her face when being presented with their baby girl, and with loving open arms Pepper gladly welcomed her daughter into her embrace. Tony stood up from his seat next to his wife to get a better view of the newest addition to the Stark family.

"Tony, look at her. She's beautiful" Pepper beamed teary eyed, as she stroked her daughter's cheek.

Tony was still speechless as an immense feeling of pride resonated throughout him just from gazing upon his daughter for the first time.

"The baby is completely healthy. She is 6.2 pounds and is 20.47 inches tall. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Stark, your daughter is doing great and will be ready to go home in a few days' time. Have any ideas of her name yet?" The bubbly nurse inquired as she looked up from the clipboard she was reading the information from.

Pepper looked up from their daughter and up to Tony then nodded. Tony knew they had discussed about naming their child Morgan ever since he had that dream and proposed the name to Pepper, as he thought it was a sign. Pepper graciously agreed, so this nod was her green light for Tony to answer the nurse's question.

After a few seconds of silence, Tony spoke up.

"Yes, I believe we have agreed on her name. We're going to call her Morgan." Tony proudly stated.

Pepper then handed Morgan off to Tony to which Tony delicately accepted. He knew he was going to be an overprotective father from the moment they had found out about the pregnancy. He had already baby proofed the estate from top to bottom, double checking his work. But, now that she was real, and, in his arms, something came over him that caused him to vow to fiercely protect and care for his daughter even more. With her big blue eyes looking up at him, he had already been wrapped around her tiny finger.

It only took two days of staying at the hospital making sure the staff could monitor Morgan until they deemed her clear to return home with her parents. Tony didn't mind the nights spent sleeping on various wooden chairs strewn together to form a makeshift bed, the really crappy food and coffee served in the cafeteria, or even the sleepless nights due to Morgan's cries. None of this mattered as he was now a father and all he was concerned with was the well-being of his girls: Pepper and Morgan. Sure, entering parenthood was going to take some time adjusting to, but Tony would do whatever it took to make sure he was going to raise Morgan to the best of his ability.

Finally, they could leave the hospital and give Morgan the homecoming they had been waiting for.

 ***Peter Parker's POV***

After months and months of waiting, the time had finally arrived. Peter Parker had been highly anticipating the birth of Tony's child, so he took it upon himself to calculate the timeframe that the baby would arrive. Peter's genius plan that had helped him pinpoint the date even more accurately was the constant badgering of Tony's assistant, Happy; to annoy him as much as possible until he gave updates on Pepper's state. He wished he'd known more such as the baby's gender, but unfortunately Mr. Stark didn't trust him or even Happy with that confidential information.

It was the first day of June when Peter had gotten a text message from Happy that informed him of Mr. and Mrs. Stark's departure to the hospital. Peter knew that the baby would be born soon, so he decided, and somehow managed, to get Happy and Aunt May's permission for him to fly out from New York to Malibu to surprise Mr. Stark when he arrived home. Peter was eager to meet the new baby and wanted to be the first. He figured Mr. Stark would have invited him to see the baby sooner or later, so why not just head on over and do it now?

Peter arrived June third and was welcomed by the heat of the beating California sun once he had stepped off the plane. Happy was waiting for him by baggage claim and drove him to Mr. Stark's house.

The car ride was a tad awkward as Happy drove in silence, but Peter wanted to start up a conversation to pass the time by.

"So, has Mr. Stark told you yet if the baby was born?" Peter sheepishly spoke out as he looked away from the view of endless palm trees outside the window to Happy in the driver's seat in front of him.

"Yes, it happened yesterday." Happy quickly replied, not wanting to lead into more conversations with the boy.

"Cool, cool. Do you know if it's a boy or girl?" He nervously asked, sensing the annoyance in Happy's body language as Happy gripped the wheel harder.

"No, it will be a surprise when they get home, which should be tomorrow." He sternly answered back, still keeping his eyes glued to the road ahead of him.

"Oh, well then I guess he will get a surprise too with me being there since he doesn't know about it, right? You didn't tell him." Peter worriedly addressed.

"Nope."

Peter was relieved, and he decided that he should stop asking Happy any more questions to assure that they would make it to the Stark's home in one piece, as he could tell Happy was getting more and more irked. Now all Peter had were his thoughts and the road to keep him company as they journeyed onward.

Peter had known about Mr. Stark's big news ever since he revealed the fact at the base with all Avengers in attendance. He couldn't have been happier for Mr. Stark upon finding out that he was going to be a father, but something was lingering in the back of his mind.

Of course he viewed Mr. Stark as a father figure in his life, but now with Tony actually having a son or daughter of his own, would his relationship with Mr. Stark begin to dissolve? He could not help but worry about this, so that's why it was so important to him to personally come out to California and be one of the first to be there for Tony after the birth of his child.

He was sprung forward by the stopping of the car, alerting him of their arrival. He had never been to Mr. Stark's house before, so it was quite the sight pulling up in front of an enormous seaside mansion. He was in awe of everything surrounding him, and quickly discovered that the inside was even more extravagant than the outside.

"Ok kid, so they're not going to be home until tomorrow, so you can just take one of the guest rooms on the third floor for the night. Do not, and I repeat, do not touch, play or even breathe on something that looks like you shouldn't. Understand?" Happy demanded, pulling Peter out of his starstruck state from looking around the house.

"Uh, yeah sure. Got it" Peter agreed as he slowly stepped back from one of Tony's early Iron Man suits that was on display in the foyer, already following Happy's requests.

Happy soon left after giving him a quick tour of the house, but it was getting late so Peter decided, after raiding Mr. Stark's fridge for a fulfilling dinner, to head upstairs to bed to get a good night's rest before the Starks and the baby came home the next day.

 ***The Next Day***

Peter did not sleep that well, being in a new and unfamiliar place all alone; he could not turn his mind off as he went over all the scenarios of meeting the baby and confronting Mr. Stark.

He woke up at 9am sharp, got dressed, and went downstairs to hopefully scrounge up some breakfast. Thankfully, he had found a box of Frosted Flakes in the pantry after a couple of minutes of searching. He grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, a spoon from a nearby drawer, and obtained a carton of milk from the fridge and then began to scarf down the cereal. As soon as he was halfway done and moved his spoon downward for another scoop, he jumped at the sound of voices down the hallway.

Tony and Pepper had just came home from the hospital and there Peter was sitting in their kitchen, mouth gaped open, spoon sitting next to a splash of milk on the granite island table top. A surprise indeed.

"Peter? What are you doing here? In my house, sitting and eating, wait what is that? My Frosted Flakes!" Tony demanded, his voice rising as he spoke.

"Tony, hush! You'll wake her." Pepper interjected, making Tony realize that he was holding their sleeping daughter in his arms.

"Her? You had a girl. A daughter?!" Peter excitedly asked as he walked forward to see her, ignoring the fact that Tony had been upset at his out of the blue showing up in his household.

"Yeah, we did. You want to see her?" Tony asked, ultimately easing up at the sudden surprise of Peter's presence.

Peter approached the newborn and felt overcome with happiness. She was so cute asleep in Mr. Stark's arms. He smiled as he noticed that she had Mr. Stark's brown hair, but there was another pressing question he had to ask.

"So, what's her name?" Peter asked looking up at Tony.

"Her name is Morgan." Tony quietly replied, reminding Peter to keep a hushed tone as the baby was indeed asleep at the moment.

"I like it" Peter whispered back looking between Pepper and Tony.

Tony smiled as he could see the fondness expressed on Peter's face as he got acquainted with his daughter. He put the whole asking how he ended up in his house aside and just took in the moment as Peter, Pepper, and himself as well, marveled at Morgan, who he had placed in a crib in the living room.

"So, is it ok if I treat her like a little sister or something? I've always wanted to be a big brother" Peter proposed, looking back to Tony who was sitting on the couch behind him.

"Of course, kid. There's nothing we would like more. Plus, this means you'd be okay babysitting whenever, right?" Tony spoke out for both him and Pepper, strategically adding the last part in himself.

"I would love to" Peter joyously replied and smiled, turning his sight back to Morgan peacefully sleeping in her crib.

Upon spending more time with Morgan and the Starks that day, Peter realized that he had nothing to worry about with the new baby affecting Mr. Stark's and his relationship because he had been quickly infatuated with her and that Mr. Stark would still be there for him no matter what. Plus, he now had a little sister to look out for and that would be an adventure in itself.


	3. Promises

**Promises**

A promise is something that should never be broken. Everyone knows that, even Mr. genius, billionaire, Tony Stark.

It could be said that Tony had been through a lot in the past fifty-two years of his life. Being Iron Man was not that easy. Sure, to any average person, it seemed fun flying around and fighting bad guys, but to Tony, it was a massive weight on his shoulders, both figuratively and literally.

The origin of Iron Man is a well-known story that defines who Tony Stark is, what he stands for, and how devoted he is to doing what's right, no matter what the cost. There he was, trapped as a prisoner inside a cave with the entire world losing hope of his chance of survival with each day that passed. There was no way to let anyone know back home that he wasn't dead, not Happy, nor Pepper. Many restless nights he spent thinking of countless "what if" scenarios. What if he had stayed with Rhodey? Would he still have been taken hostage? What if he was at home in the comfort of his Malibu mansion? Would he have had the courage to finally ask Pepper out? What would he have given just to have one phone call to let her know that he was alright and was doing everything he could to get home in one piece?

Tony Stark found himself asking these same questions at a later time in his life; during his time spent in another prison. The solitude of him alone in a spaceship, soaring through the cosmos, running out of oxygen each day, was something he did not think he would return home from. At least he had the capability to send Pepper messages via his helmet, but who knew if she was even receiving them? The only thing that Tony had on that ship, besides Nebula, was hope, and that was what got him through it all and back home safe and sound into Pepper's arms.

These painful memories from his past made him promise, not only his family, but himself that he would always do everything in his power to return to them. Now that he had a wife and daughter, people who truly depended on him, he made sure to always make it back home to them. Every mission, no matter what, he would call to check in with them each day that he was gone. And that was his promise. Being an Avenger not only put a huge target on his back, but unfortunately for him, it also put a target on his family's back. He always protected them, but when he was away on missions, he had to put that trust into Happy to make sure they remained safe. Not that he didn't trust Happy, but he would still worry in the back of his mind when he was away, as that's just the protective husband/father nature programmed in him.

It was a surprisingly rainy Monday evening in Malibu, and six-year-old Morgan Stark was found playing with a plethora of Legos scattered around the sea of beige carpet in the family room. Pepper was watching her young daughter from the comfort of the couch as she simultaneously flipped through the pages of a fashion magazine. The sound of raindrops colliding with the large glass windows next to them was calming to the girls, as they enjoyed their time relaxing after a long day at school for Morgan, and a quite hectic day at Stark Industries for Pepper.

Suddenly, both of their heads turned to the direction of the stairwell when Tony came stomping down with a large leather duffle bag in tow.

"Where are you going now!" Pepper exclaimed, as she got up from her seat on the couch and approached him, meeting him at the bottom of the stairs.

Morgan was forced to halt in her tracks, right in the middle of assembling her new Death Star Lego set, looking up at the scene that was about to unfold with her parents.

Tony responded as he dodged his wife and continued towards the family room, "I have to pack quickly. Fury called, something about a situation in Bolivia."

"Um, what? Tony, you just got home from a mission two weeks ago. And in those two weeks you've barely been home." She huffed, tapping her heels in stubbornness on the hardwood floor.

Morgan was about to chime in to share her feelings on the matter of her father leaving yet again, except just as she was about to speak, Tony physically stepped over her to grab his phone charger on the nearby coffee table and shoved it in his bag. He was in a rush and didn't even realize what he was doing until Morgan stood up in his path and looked up directly at him.

This made Tony stop dead in his tracks.

"Daddy, I don't want you to go again. You promised to play with me tonight!" She implored, a look of disappointment presenting itself on her face.

Tony felt horrible to leave his family yet again, but he needed to help out in Bolivia, as many lives were at stake, and the situation was rapidly getting worse. As much as he would have loved to spend the night playing with his daughter, he knew that it was his duty to go and complete this mission.

Tony then kneeled down to his daughter's level.

"Sweetheart, I am so sorry that I can't play tonight, but I promise that when I get back we can spend a whole week playing together. How does that sound?" He proclaimed, quite proud of his negotiating skills.

Morgan's face immediately lit up at the thought of her spending an entire week with her father. She jumped up and hugged Tony's neck, hanging onto him like a monkey when he stood back up.

"Now Tony, you can't make promises to her that you can't keep. Your obligation to Stark Industries and the Avengers will probably get in the way the week you come back, as it usually does." Pepper chimed in, saying that last part under her breath.

Tony seemed off-put by his wife's response. He carefully set Morgan back down and turned to Pepper.

"I know Pep, but I'm just trying my best to make up for all my absences, I will do whatever it takes to come back and spend more time with the two of you: my two favorite girls in the world." He responded affectionately, as he approached her, taking her hands in his.

She sighed, coming to terms with her husband's request, and let herself calm down as she fell into Tony's embrace.

"I love you Pepper, but you and I both know that I need to go. I'll always return to you. I promise." He assured before planting a soft kiss upon her forehead.

Morgan, soon after, came up to them and latched onto Tony's leg, thus ceasing their small intimate moment.

Tony picked her up and gave her a large hug goodbye, "Don't worry Mo, I'll be back in no time." He promised, as he ran his fingers through her soft brunette locks.

"And don't tell your mom this, but I'm going to miss you the most." He whispered in her ear as he kissed her cheek, making her sorrowful face transform into bubbly laughter.

"I heard that Mr." Pepper scoffed.

Tony laughed as he handed his daughter into Pepper's arms. After engulfing them both into one final hug, he picked up his duffle bag and made his way to the front door.

With the slam of the door behind him, just like that, he was gone.

Pepper woke up at 6 a.m. sharp on Saturday from a rather intense dream. After calming herself down, she turned to her side, and noticed that yet again she was alone in her bed. It had been four days since Tony had gone off to Bolivia, and Pepper was starting to worry, due to the fact that Tony had not contacted her since the first night he arrived there. All she knew was that Tony and the rest of the Avengers were fighting some crazed mutant army in the Amazon Rainforest, but most importantly, he did not know how long until he could come back home.

She took in a deep breath and decided to take on the day the best she could, despite the voice in the back of the head constantly thinking of all the possible negative scenarios that could be unfolding for her husband.

It wasn't until a couple hours later that her six-year-old finally woke up and made her way, slowly but surely, down the stairs. Her tiny hand slid down the metal banister and with a loud squeak, she released her grip and happily jumped right over the last step.

"Good morning, Morgan!" Pepper cheerfully greeted her daughter as she flipped the pancakes she was making for breakfast.

The smell of the fluffy pancakes drifting through the air led Morgan straight to the table and, with the help of her mother, she was lifted up onto the tall chair at their black granite kitchen island.

"So, what do you want to do today, honey?" Pepper inquired, trying to stay chipper in front of her daughter to distract herself from the whole Tony situation.

However, Pepper wasn't the only one distracted, as Morgan was too focused on the food in front of her to process what her mother was asking.

Pepper noticed this and snapped her out of it by sliding a pancake on the plate in front of Morgan.

"When is daddy coming home? I miss him and wanna have him help me finish my Death Star. He promised. And he hasn't even called us yet." She whined as she picked at her pancake with a fork.

Pepper knew this was coming. Morgan was always so observant. She had so little time to prepare a response to ease her daughter, and herself in fact, as she looked at Morgan's apathetic face.

"I'm sure daddy will be coming home as soon as possible. He probably has been too busy with his friends taking care of the bad guys. Yeah, I'm sure that's it." She hesitantly assured, as she took a seat next to her daughter.

"Oh, well I hope he comes home tonight 'cause I'm bored." Morgan replied in a more confident tone, before trying her best to shove an entire pancake in her mouth .

"If you're so bored, why don't we call one of your friends from school to see if they can come over to play?" Pepper offered, hoping that this play date would take her daughter's mind off of things for a while.

Morgan had an idea as she shot up in her seat and said, "How about Peter! He loves to play Legos with me!"

Pepper's heart sank in that moment. Of course her daughter wanted Peter Parker to play with her, as he was a close second, only after Tony. How was she going to break it to Morgan that Peter couldn't play either because he was on the same mission that her father was on, in Bolivia, thousands of miles away from their Californian home?

Morgan knew her dad was Iron Man, as the entire public knew this fact as well. However, she was not aware that Peter was Spider-Man yet. Since she was so young, it was too much of a risk for her to accidentally reveal it to her classmates at school or basically anyone she could come into contact with. She loved Spider-Man and Peter Parker both so much, that if she knew, she would want to tell the world of how cool it was for her big brother to be Spider-Man. Tony, Peter, and Pepper will tell Morgan some day when she is a little older, but today was not that day.

Not wanting to compromise Peter's secret identity, Pepper decided to tell a small white lie.

"Well sweetie, Peter can't play with you this weekend because he's on vacation to, um... Italy."

Morgan's face fell down from this news and she looked back blankly at the table. Pepper now felt even worse.

It couldn't have been a better time, as Happy suddenly burst through the front door.

"Pepper, Morgan, you guys around?" Happy called out rather loudly, accompanied by a slam of the front door.

"In here, Happy." Pepper replied, as she got up from her chair to greet him.

Happy entered the scene and noticed that something was way off.

"Woah, what's with the sad face, Morgan?" Happy asked just before helping himself to the delicious looking pancakes on the table.

Pepper took the liberty to answer for her daughter, knowing that she wouldn't reply, "She's upset that daddy hasn't come home yet, or even called us, for that matter." She said dryly.

Happy knew exactly how they were feeling. He too was extremely concerned that he hadn't heard from Tony yet. It was even more alarming to him that Tony hadn't spoken to his family, as he would always call Pepper and Morgan way before he would let Happy in the loop of what he was up to on his not so top-secret Avengers business.

"Kid, I know how you feel. I was actually coming here to talk to you guys about this." He added.

Pepper's eyes shot up, "Wait, have you heard from Tony?!" She asked, as hope bubbled up inside of her.

"Sorry, Pep, I haven't. I just wanted to ask if he's contacted you guys at all and to see how you're holding up. I've been trying to track his suit with the help of some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but we couldn't pinpoint any location." He sympathetically noted.

This time it was Morgan who spoke up from previously remaining silent.

"So we don't know where daddy is or when he's gonna come back?" She answered, as her eyes started to water.

Pepper then came up from behind and hugged her daughter to comfort her.

"Daddy promised you he'd come back, and he never breaks a promise. You know that Morgan." Pepper mentioned to sooth her daughter's worry, while rubbing her back in a circular motion.

For the next couple minutes, the three of them were so busy discussing how they would work together to figure out where the elusive Tony Stark was, that they did not notice the front door opening and closing yet again.

"What promise was it that I made again, anyone care to remind me?" Tony bluntly asked, as he stood in the entryway and dropped his leather duffle onto the white tiled floor.

In approximately, what seemed like one millisecond, Morgan Stark managed to get off from her chair and sprinted into her father's arms.

"DADDY!" She enthusiastically exclaimed before crashing into her father with a thud, almost knocking him down to the ground.

"What's up, peanut? I hope you didn't miss me too much." Tony mentioned, as he picked her up and lifted her onto his shoulders.

Pepper was speechless. Moments ago, she was on the brink of having a panic attack from the stress of locating her long-lost husband, but now he was here right in front of her.

Tony noticed how startled his wife was, and probably could have guessed what she was going through. While he was in Bolivia, his communication links had gone down in his Iron Man suit due to the supersonic weapon the enemy had pitted against them. He was also worried, not only how concerned his family would be not knowing what was going on with him, but his greater fear was if anything were to happen to them without him knowing. How could he protect the world if he couldn't even protect his family? Thankfully, that wasn't the case, as he could see that all the people he cared about were in the same room together, all safe and sound.

Pepper finally came and reunited with her husband as she hugged him as tightly as she could, with the intent of never letting go.

Even Happy got in with the heartwarming reunion as he hugged his boss and tried to hide evidence of the tears of joy escaping his eyes in the moment.

"I'm so sorry guys, I can't imagine what I put you through. My comms went down, and I had no idea where the nearest payphone was in the rainforest." He laughed, trying to lift their spirits.

Pepper then proceeded to hit him for that last comment.

"You don't get to tell jokes now, Tony." She sternly declared before kissing him passionately.

"Ewww gross." Morgan said in disgust, looking at her parents' display of affection.

Suddenly, a new voice spoke up,"Yeah Mr. Stark, cut it out, there are children present." Peter Parker advised, before carefully sliding his black Jansport backpack from his shoulder to the floor.

"Oh sorry, honey, guess we gotta cut it out now. The kids have spoken." Tony sarcastically added, as he put his arm around Peter.

Just like that, Morgan pounced from her father and onto Peter, managing to take the 24-year-old down to the floor with her.

"Peter! You came to play!" She joyously yelled into his ear, as she engulfed him into a hug.

Peter was still shaken from that interaction, but managed to say, "Yeah, it's nice to see you too, Munchkin," with a goofy grin on his face. "But I've got to get home to M.J." He replied dejectedly.

"But Peteeeer!" Morgan begged, giving him a pleading look.

He let out a sigh, as he eventually gave in to Morgan's pleas.

Tony couldn't help but smile as he looked around at the people whom he loved more than anything in the world. Sure, he and Peter were a little bloodied up and bruised from their mission, but at least they came home in one piece to those who were anxiously waiting for them.

It was clear that Morgan was the most excited about their homecoming, as she now had both of her favorite playmates to help her finish the Lego model. And that's exactly what happened that day.


	4. Legacy

It was a standard sunny California day and Morgan Stark found herself waiting outside her high school on a bench, on her phone, scrolling through her Twitter feed, trying her best to stay invisible from her peers who were boarding vibrant yellow busses or heading to their cars in the adjacent parking lot. Being a freshman and starting high school wasn't easy, but being the daughter of Tony Stark made it even more challenging with all eyes on her anticipating her impending genius and academic success. It's not like she wasn't smart, she was taking AP calculus already with seniors, but the stress of being perfect and excelling at basically everything was putting a tremendous amount of pressure on her.

The screech of tires on the asphalt in front of her comfortable spot on the bench pulled her out of the trance she was in from staring at her phone. The black Audi with tinted windows contrasted with its surroundings of green palm trees swaying in the wind and blue skies. The window rolled down and she was greeted by none other than her father's right-hand man and most trusted employee, Happy Hogan.

"Hey Morgan, get in; It's time to go." He encouraged, waving his hand, gesturing for her to hop in the car.

"About time you got here. You better have McDonalds in there or something for being almost twenty minutes late." She joked, but truthfully she would rather be picked up late so the other kids wouldn't have to be around to see her being picked up by either Happy or her dad, the later usually drew a larger crowd. She got up from the hot bench, which she was beginning to stick to, and slid into the cool black leather passenger seat in the air-conditioned car, tossing her purple JanSport into the back seat.

Happy didn't answer her, instead he punched the gas and drove out of the school's lot. He was in a rush and she could tell, as she fell back into her seat from the sudden acceleration. The rest of the drive was smooth and silent. Morgan, again, went back to her phone and connected it to her Bluetooth earbuds to make the half an hour drive to their destination more enjoyable. It's not like she felt uncomfortable talking to Happy, in fact she considered him more like an uncle than just her usual chauffeur/bodyguard, but she had an exhausting day at school, and being the fourteen-year-old she was, she just wanted to be in her own little world for the time being. Happy understood this from spending so much time with the young Stark, so he just let her be and focused on getting her safely to Stark Industries.

Morgan was yet again pulled back into reality when she could feel the car coming to a stop, as they pulled into the parking spot in front of the glistening glass building. Removing her earbuds, she took the sound of Happy's door slamming shut as a sign that it was time to get out.

She got out of the passenger seat, opened the door to the backseat to grab the familiar material of her backpack, and headed towards the entrance of her family's company. Morgan and Happy swiped their security badges into the metal scanners that lined up in the lobby, and with a flash of a green light and a high-pitched beep, they were in.

It was a Friday afternoon and she had a big weekend ahead of her, as the Stark Expo was kicking off, and her father and her were going to head straight there. Of course, their plan to leave right after she came home from school was changed at the last minute, as Tony had to pick something up from Stark Industries before they left. Pepper was already in New York since Wednesday, prepping for the expo and doing interviews to promote it, as she was the head and CEO of the company. Tony, being the devoted and loving father he was, didn't accompany his wife because he wanted to be in California for Morgan to look after and be there for her. He trusted Pepper would handle everything smoothly there by herself. Actually, it was probably for the best that they were apart for the first few days of prep because he would be too distracting for her when she desperately needed to get a lot of work done for to expo to be a smashing success.

In search of her father's whereabouts, Morgan split up from Happy and wandered around the building. It was strange that she felt more comfortable walking in the halls of Stark Industries with middle aged strangers than she did at her own high school with kids her age. Here, her mother's employees did not really pay her any mind, and for that, she was grateful. Sure, they knew that she was the boss's daughter and they were on their best behavior around her, but they didn't act like nosy paparazzi like the kids did at school. From about ten minutes of semi-strategic searching, and with a quick trip to the cafeteria to acquire a smoothie, Morgan concluded that Tony Stark was nowhere to be found.

She was slightly disappointed with her findings, as she wanted to try to coax her dad to leave already for the expo. So, she admitted defeat and went upstairs to try to find something to entertain herself from the impending boredom of waiting for her dad.

After an awkward elevator ride up seven floors with some forced small talk with four of her mother's employees, stopping at what seemed to be every floor in-between, she finally got to the top floor, or what her father liked to call the 'penthouse suite'. With really nowhere else to go to be in private, Morgan swiped her badge into the reader to allow her into her mother's office. The only people who had direct access to this room were Pepper, Tony, Happy, and her, so she felt quite safe and at home, as she settled into her mother's desk chair. She had spent much of her time in this very office. Growing up with a working mother required a plethora of take your child to work days when Tony was off avenging, leaving no one else to watch her. Pepper knew it would be a challenge in itself to run a Fortune 500 company and to raise a daughter at the same time, but she and Tony wanted to be extremely involved in their daughter's life, so they made some sacrifices to do so.

With little to no effort in 'hacking' into her mom's desktop, she successfully guessed the password in only three tries. Not surprisingly, the password was 'Morgan620', the twenty in reference to her birth year of 2020, and the 6 for her birth month of June.

"Hacker voice, I'm in." Morgan whispered under her breath, as the desktop wallpaper of her family on their vacation to the Parthenon in Greece appeared. She smiled, proud of herself and of her feat, then began to direct the mouse to select Google Chrome to browse the web as she waited for her dad to answer her many texts inquiring of when they planned to leave.

She spent about twenty minutes sipping on her strawberry smoothie and scrolling on her dashboard on Tumblr, before the sudden opening of the door made her jump in her seat.

To her surprise, she was now in the company of her father, as he stopped in his tracks in the doorway.

"Morgan? What are you doing here? I thought I was picking you up at home before we left." Tony inquired doubtfully, as he approached his daughter.

Morgan quickly closed the tabs on the computer before replying to her father. "I could ask the same to you dad. Why are you here? This is mom's office." She dryly stated, as she got up from the white leather swivel chair.

"Well, if you must know, your mother informed me that she needed a file on her office computer to present at the expo, so I was coming in here to go put it on this handy-dandy USB to bring it to her." Tony calmly replied, tossing the red flash drive up in the air and then catching it.

"Oh, well that's good and all, but why didn't you answer my like forty texts messages to you in the past hour?" She exaggerated in a firm tone.

"Uh, well, unfortunately I somehow managed to leave my phone at home today, so that one is on me." Tony sincerely apologized. This was typical of her father, so now, fortunately for Tony, Morgan was not aggravated with her father's absence anymore because she finally had located him.

"Well Happy picked me up from school and took me here, so I'm here now. But, speaking of the expo, when are we going to leave? Didn't we promise mom we would be there at a certain time?" She asked.

Tony knew his daughter was excited to get away for the weekend and attend the Stark Expo, so he was expecting her to be disappointed with his delay.

"Well, kiddo, as soon as I get this file then we can head back home to get our luggage and leave for the airport." He optimistically assured, as he sat down and inserted the flash drive into the computer.

"There, all done. Let's rock and roll." Tony concluded a minute later after acquiring the desired file and led his daughter to the door. Morgan happily followed him out, ready for their trip to begin.

While exiting, the father-daughter duo stumbled into Happy.

"Oh, sorry there boss." He flusteredly excused himself.

"No biggie Hap, we were just leaving to get our luggage at the house." Tony promptly replied, as he swerved past the larger man.

"Hey, speaking of that," Happy interjected, making Tony and Morgan stop and turn back to face him. "I actually have your luggage with me now. That's why I took Morgan straight here after school because I knew you were here and forgot your phone, so you guys can just leave to the airport now. And Tony, here's your phone by the way." He concluded, as he tossed the phone over into Tony's possession.

Tony beamed at this news. "Hogan, what ever would we do without you? You are really the best of the best, my friend." He enthusiastically exclaimed and patted Happy on the back.

And just like that, the Starks were off and on their way to the Los Angeles International Airport.

The flight from Malibu to New York was a trip that the Starks made quite a bit. The seven-hour journey was rather uneasy to endure; however, having a personal jet to transport them to and fro didn't hurt. Morgan did not like to boast and flaunt about her family's wealth, but times like these made her thankful that she didn't have to be in a claustrophobic commercial airline, sitting next to complete strangers, making her feel anxious for the entire trip. She happened to enjoy her personal space; and the fact that it was just the familiar faces of her father and Happy on the plane with her made her more at ease. They managed to finally take off at 6 pm, and the three of them spent their time in the air eating dinner, playing some rounds of UNO, watching Back to The Future, and then after the movie, around 10 pm, Morgan managed to drift off to sleep as she snuggled up to her father, using him as a pillow.

Tony cherished moments like these, especially since Morgan had entered her teenage years, he found himself more distant from his daughter. He loved watching her grow up and become her own person, but he relished on looking back on the times when she was younger and would need his help tying her shoes, or needing him to read her a bedtime story each night, or asking him to play whenever she had the chance. He realized that now she was becoming a young woman, and he couldn't be prouder, but it was inevitable that their close bond would begin to fade as time passed. He was just appreciative of any time that they got to spend together, which was why he was also just as excited as his daughter to attend to expo with her.

Soon, Tony too succumbed to slumber next to his daughter. Happy couldn't help but smile when looking at the two in front of him with their synchronizing breaths in peaceful sleep. He proceeded to then place a blanket on top of them, and then he called it a night as well.

The three of them abruptly woke up to the sound of a cell phone alarm. Happy had thankfully set this alarm half an hour before their arrival time so they would have time to get ready to disembark the plane and successfully take on New York City at the wee hours in the morning.

Morgan found herself sporting a wild style of bed head from sleeping on the plane's inclined seat, but she adapted and overcame by throwing her messy brunette locks in a bun and was ready to face the reporters and cameras that were awaiting their arrival. Tony made himself useful and cleaned up and gathered all their stuff before they landed, while Happy took a little more time to wake himself up to ready himself to protect the Starks from the paparazzi and escort them to the hotel.

It was about 4 in the morning when the jet touched ground at the JFK International Airport. The motley crew made their way down the steps off the aircraft and were greeted by Pepper, who was somehow not tired at all at this hour. Once seeing her mother, Morgan ran up and engulfed her in a big hug. Pepper was grateful to see her daughter again, as it had been technically four days now since they had last seen each other. Tony slowly, but surely, sleepily made his way to join their reunion and was glad to see his beautiful wife again.

"Miss me, Honey?" Tony cheerfully queried, after affectionally kissing his wife.

"Of course, I missed you guys. It was so boring here without you. A woman can only take so many planning meetings and interviews without her loving husband and ever so sarcastic daughter by her side."

"Ah yes, what would you do without me mom? I was getting worried." She humored her.

"Not as worried as I was with you home alone with your father. How did that go anyway? How was your week at school?" Pepper curiously inquired, as the group made their way back inside the airport.

"Pep, you dare question my ability to keep the house from burning down without you?" Tony huffed, taking much offense to her words.

Morgan laughed at her dad's display of emotion, as he seemed rather appalled, but she knew that her parents were just joking around. That's just how they were, and she was used to it by now.

"Actually, school was pretty okay. First calculus midterm: aced it." She proudly shared, as she held the door open for them.

"That's amazing sweetie, great job!" Pepper praised her daughter.

As soon as they entered the airport, they were surrounded by the flashing lights of Nikon cameras and microphones attached to news reporters invading their personal space. It was now Happy's time to go to work.

Morgan was immediately overwhelmed, and Tony and Pepper knew how sensitive she was to being bombarded like this. They all tried their best to circle around her to shield their daughter from the ruthless reporters, but sometimes that was not enough.

"Mr. Stark, what's in store for us with the expo this year?"

"Mrs. Stark, how is running Stark Industries and planning the expo?"

"Morgan, what's it like to have such successful and influential parents? Are you learning how to take over Stark Industries yet?"

Questions like these buzzed through the air as they made their way through the aggressive crowd. It took them longer than expected to make it to the car waiting for them outside, but they were just glad to have made it in one piece.

"Okay, do we have everybody? Starks sound off." Tony asked, trying to cheer them up from exiting that stressful situation.

Morgan was still recovering from all of what just had happened and remained silent, as she got in the backseat with her mother. Happy put the luggage in the car before hopping into the driver's seat and drove off with Tony next to him in the passenger seat.

Pepper noticed the uneasiness that remained on her daughter's face, so she scooted closer to Morgan and put her arm around her shoulder for comfort.

"We will be in our hotel room in no time, it's very close to the airport." Pepper mentioned, assuring her daughter's worries away.

Tony looked back at them and couldn't help but feel for his daughter; she was so brave for facing things like that on a daily basis. Sometimes, he wished he could give his wife and daughter a normal life out of the spotlight; however, when he thinks about that alternate life, he realizes that he wouldn't even had met Pepper, and thus Morgan wouldn't even have been born.

It took about eight minutes for the family to reach the hotel, and thankfully there were no cameras awaiting their arrival there, as they had put a request ahead of time for the staff to clear out the lobby.

It was about 5 in the morning when the Stark family had entered their suite, got ready for bed, and then quickly crashed. Thankfully, they did not have to be anywhere until 6pm that day, because that was when the opening ceremony to the expo kicked off, and Pepper completed all the work that needed to be done beforehand in the days before.

Pepper was the first to get up at 11am, as the stress and worry for the first day of the Stark Expo woke her and caused her to quietly review some last-minute details, as she glanced back and forth from her laptop to her sound-asleep husband and daughter.

As for the father-daughter duo, they ended up waking up around 1pm; the flight, seemingly, had really taken its toll on them.

By the time, Happy came knocking on their door at 3pm, the whole clan was prepped and ready to take on the day and show the world the 2034 Stark Expo.

The Stark Expo originated in 1943 in Queens, New York, by Tony's father Howard Stark. It ran from then till 1974 where Howard presented the City of the Future. Tony took it upon himself in 2010 to revitalize the infamous expo, but unfortunately that didn't go as planned as it was crashed by Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko's autonomous armored drones. Ever since that year, Tony made a duty to himself to make sure that the Stark Expo would be a safer and more enjoyable experience where the technology of the not-so-distant future could be showcased to give the people the assurance of a greater, bigger, and more beautiful tomorrow.

He was proud to have his family name affiliated with such a prestigious event, but most importantly, he loved to share the expo with his daughter, as she was fortunate enough to grow up attending the expo every year. He was secretly hoping that one day Morgan could assume his role at the expo as its host in the upcoming six or so years, as he was entering his sixties. He knew how much she idolized him and would be up for this role, but he also knew how much being in the spotlight affected her and that would be an obstacle to overcome for being ready to stand and present in front of a crowd of thousands.

It was around 4:30 in the afternoon when Happy, Tony, Pepper, and Morgan arrived in Queens at the large outdoor venue. The iconic metallic globe pinpointed the exact center of the grounds and was where the group all stood as they admired the vast amounts of show buildings, food stands, vibrant flower planters, and fountains surrounding them.

"Just think, in under two hours this place is going to be packed with people." Tony spoke out.

"I actually think it looks better this way, more open, less loud and chaotic than it will be soon." Morgan added, as she took in the sights around her.

"Yeah, but sometimes a little chaos could be fun." Tony swiftly remarked, before he led them into the main show building that would house the opening ceremony.

There was a crew of people setting up and putting on the final touches for the lighting, stage, and speakers to be completely ready for the expo attendees. The Starks made their way backstage to help set up the opening presentation that Tony had thankfully loaded up onto the red USB. Morgan sat back and watched as her parents worked diligently as they rehearsed their speeches, and she even managed to catch and prevent her dad from embarrassing himself with a corny dad joke that he was planning to sprinkle in.

All of the sudden there was a booming voice that resounded throughout the building that startled everyone and made them cover their ears simultaneously.

"Everything is achievable through technology, better living, robust health and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. I'm Howard Stark, and everything you'll need in the future can be found right here." The voice loudly stated.

Apparently, the AV guys accidently queued up the introduction video of Howard Stark and conveniently also had the audio cranked up all the way.

"What the hell, guys!" Tony furiously exclaimed, trying to yell over his father's voice.

About 5 minutes later the situation was fixed and everything was under control. The AV crew had a stern talking to from Tony, which basically made them fearful for their jobs and lives, as from then on they made sure that they wouldn't make any more mistakes. Nobody wanted to piss off Iron Man, that's for sure.

Morgan couldn't help but notice her father returning from discussing matters with the tech crew, as he stomped around and was muttering under his breath.

"Just great. It's been 43 years since he died, and my freaking old man is still getting on my nerves." Tony sputtered, as he returned back to his seat next to his daughter.

The video of Howard Stark introducing the expo was a staple, so much so that Morgan basically knew every word her grandfather said during it. Morgan sometimes wished she had her grandparents around, but she knew that it was a touchy subject to bring up to her father about, so she usually kept these thoughts to herself... Until now.

"Dad, can I ask you something?" She innocently asked, turning to face him.

Tony took a few seconds to cool down before answering, "Yeah sure, what's up?" He replied, popping the 'P'.

"Why do hate grandpa so much?" She blatantly stated.

The mood in the room suddenly became tense, as everyone could sense what was coming. Pepper took it upon herself to leave and clear the room out to let Tony have some much-needed space to explain himself to their daughter.

Once it was just Morgan and Tony left, Tony pushed his hair back, took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"Well, hate is such a strong word Morgs. I wouldn't say I hate my father, but, you see, him and I didn't really have the best relationship. Nothing like how things are between us, actually more like the exact opposite of us." He opened up truthfully.

"So, you two didn't get along?" She curiously inquired, as she looked down to her feet, not wanting to look her father directly in the eyes.

"Well, we didn't really have a chance to 'get along' per say. He was always so busy with work and never made any time to spend with me. You see, he was very distant and making sure he vocalized that he loved, or hell, even cared about me wasn't his top priority." He sincerely admitted.

This fact about his relationship with his own father made Tony want to change for the better and become a better man than Howard was, and most importantly, a better father than he was. Once Morgan entered Tony's life, he made sure he never missed a chance to express how much he loved his daughter and how proud of her he was. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to end up like his father. As much as this conversation was hard for Tony to explain to his daughter, in hindsight, he was also thankful that it made him think back on his own relationship with his daughter.

"Do you wish he and grandma were still here?" Morgan added, interrupting Tony's reflective thoughts.

"Of course I do. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss them. I would have liked the chance to make things better with my dad. I would have loved for them to attend my wedding. But most importantly, I wish they could have met you to see how much of a special and amazing kid you are." Tony confessed.

This statement by her father made Morgan softly smile to herself, as she was overcome by his kind words and was relieved that her dad did not have ill feelings towards his father.

"There's that smile that I love so much" Tony added, as he gently lifted his daughter's face up to meet his gaze.

"I wish they were here too, dad. I feel like they would be proud of you and all the things you've done. Being Iron Man, saving the world, the success you and mom have brought to Stark Industries, reintroducing the world to the Stark Expo, and upholding the Stark legacy. They have really missed a lot." Morgan sheepishly declared.

"I'm just glad I have you, kid. None of the things you just mentioned mean anything to me, well maybe except my legacy, because you know what? Morgan, you are my legacy." He pointed out with his index finger and touched her chest.

Pepper managed to catch this lovingly deep conversation between father and daughter. She had originally come to interrupt them and inform Tony that the expo was about ready to start, but couldn't help but to listen in to this special moment at the doorway.

"And, because you're my legacy, I was hoping you would like to one day take over hosting the Stark Expo for me when I get too old and unfit for the job. I know how much pressure you feel under the spotlight with everyone watching, but I will be there with you each step of the way. How does that sound?" He sympathetically offered.

"Tony, are you sure this is a good idea? Don't force her to feel like she has to do this." Pepper interjected, as she entered the room.

"Pep, I am not forcing her to do anything. You do know that, right Morgan? This is completely up to you and we can start next year or any year even." Tony assured her.

Morgan stood up from her seat to share her opinion on the topic.

"I know, dad, and I thought you would ask me one of these days." She then paused, as both parents froze and awaited her response, "And to answer your question, I would be honored to take over for you. I mean it is the Stark Expo, so we need a Stark to man the helm. Don't we?" She confidently replied.

"That's great to hear Mo, I secretly knew you'd be up for the job, no matter how much your mother has tied to convince me otherwise." He replied, throwing his wife under the bus.

"Hey! I was just trying to protect her. I don't want my baby growing up so fast and taking over for you so soon." She stood up for herself and met them in the middle of the room.

Thankfully for everyone's sake, just as something was about to surely go down between her parents, a crew member stepped into the room to make an announcement.

"Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. Stark, but it's showtime." The young man interrupted, peeking his head in.

The Starks halted and turned their attention to him before Tony answered back, "Oh really, it's time already? We'll be out soon. Thanks for the heads up."

Morgan could hear the crowd get louder and louder with each step as they made their way closer to the stage. She knew she wanted to do this and knew that her dad would be right next to her up on the stage, but that didn't mean her nerves and anxiety were somehow magically put to rest.

Tony and Pepper could feel their daughter practically shaking when they stopped and waited for Tony to be announced on the side of the stage. Pepper began to rub her daughter's back to try to calm her down and was about to speak some encouraging words, until it was too late.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Tony Stark!" The announcer broadcasted over the speakers, as the audience went crazy, their screams bouncing off the walls.

Tony began to head out, but just as he was about to step foot on the stage, he turned back, looked at his daughter and reached out for her hand.

"Coming, legacy?"


	5. Birthday Party

**A/N: Hey guys I am back! So, I'm making a few changes to the story as the first four chapters were written after Infinity War, but before Endgame. Now, after seeing Endgame I have decided to move the Starks into the lake house that was shown during the movie and I am also changing the year Morgan was born to 6/2/2018 (I had it previously as 2020). The events that unfolded during Endgame will have happened, except Tony will have survived. The final battle of Endgame occurred on 4/26/2023 and this chapter takes place on 6/2/2023 for Morgan's 5th birthday.**

It was a quaint morning on an early June summer day in a secluded part of upstate New York. A tire swing that sat adjacent to a shimmering lake swayed in the wind, mirroring the tree branches that danced in the surrounding woodland area. Everything was peaceful outside; however, that was not the case for the inside of the nearby lakeside house.

"MOMMY! DADDY! WAKE UP!" A small, yet powerful voice echoed through the halls. Morgan Stark was found jumping up and down on her parent's bed, trying to get them up and just as excited for the day as she was.

Tony Stark was a man who enjoyed his sleep, and needed a minimum of at least eight hours of sleep to be able to function; so, he was not loving the fact that his darling daughter woke him up at 9 o'clock in the morning, as he had been up late the previous night in the garage/lab working on updates for Pepper's Rescue suit.

"Morgan Hope Stark, you better have a good reason for waking daddy up so early" Tony groggily muttered as he got up from underneath his pillow.

Morgan stopped her bouncing after hearing her father's comment and with a disappointed look on her face replied, "It's my birthday. Did you forget?"

Of course, Tony remembered his daughter's birthday was today, in fact he had been working on Morgan's gift for the past month, he was just messing with her.

"Oh, is that today?" He sarcastically admitted, just before picking Morgan up and tickling her.

The bubbly laughter, of the now 5-year-old, was always contagious and Pepper Potts-Stark rose from her side of the bed and couldn't help but smile at seeing the scene unfolding before her.

"Be careful you two, we don't need any injuries to deal with before our guests start arriving for the big day." She chimed in, causing Tony to put Morgan down slowly and safely on the hardwood floor.

The Starks had a special day planned out for the birthday girl and had some surprises in store for her too. They had a lot to do before the guests were to arrive at noon, so both Tony and Pepper were a little grateful for their early wake up call. Happy would be coming over first to help out and bring back some very much needed items such as the decorations, food, drinks, and of course the cake.

"You know Mo, mom is always right, so how about some breakfast? What you hungry for? Your wish is my command." Tony happily offered up as he led the family of three down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Once they arrived, Morgan was lifted up into the elevated metal chair that stood up to the granite island by her mother as Pepper immediately afterwards planted a soft kiss upon the top of her daughter's head.

Morgan spun around in her seat, debating on what she wanted for breakfast, until finally coming to a decision.

"Can we have scrambled eggs, juice pops, and lemonade?!" Morgan asked, as her face lit up from her previous deep-in-thought expression.

Both Tony and Pepper realized that this food combination was a bit outlandish, but they both weren't the type of parents to ever turn down their child's request, no matter how silly it was.

"Of course, Peanut, daddy will get right on that. How about in the meantime you and mommy can set the table?" He swiftly proclaimed, which caused his wife to stop in her tracks, as she was already up from her seat next to Morgan and ready to start on the meal.

Cooking eggs was an easy enough task to handle, Tony thought to himself, so he let his wife have a little break; even though she would be intently watching him make the eggs, as she still didn't trust her husband to not burn down the kitchen.

The meal was served soon after the girls were finished setting the table, which of course only happened right after a short round of I Spy at the request of little, miss Stark. As they were seated, Tony went around the table distributing the juice pops, pouring the lemonade, and serving the eggs.

"Ok, I think I have this right. Let's see, an orange juice pop for mom, purple for Momo, and a red one for me." He confidently announced, before sitting himself down at the table with his family.

It was a little after 10 in the morning when they had finished and cleaned up after Morgan's birthday breakfast. Just as Tony placed the last plate into the drying rack, FRIDAY's voice had announced a notification throughout the entire house.

"Boss, it seems that someone is approaching the front door." The AI alerted.

"I wonder who that could be?" Tony jokingly asked as he turned to his daughter, dish towel still in hand.

Morgan immediately hopped out of the chair at the kitchen table, and sprinted towards the door, yelling out "Uncle Happy!" with pure joy. She knew she was not supposed to open the door, so she excitedly awaited by the door until her mother came to let Happy in.

"Hello there, Munchkin. Happy birthday!" He greeted, as he ruffled the hair on the top of her head, carefully trying not to drop the many brown paper bags of party supplies that he had been carrying.

Pepper took it upon herself to reach out and take the bags from Mr. Hogan to help him out a bit, as she knew Morgan would climb all over him in no time.

"Thanks Pep. I still got a bunch more stuff in the car; I will go get them." He calmly informed her.

Just as he turned around to make his way out to the driveway, he felt a bunch of weight jump on his back.

"Oooff," he called out in slight pain, "is that Monkey Morgan I detect? Shouldn't she be in the jungle somewhere? Maybe off her uncle Happy and his old back?" He enthusiastically suggested.

Thankfully, he felt her slide off of him and heard her feet hit the gravel below.

"Oh, so your back is too old for Monkey Morgan all the sudden? That's too bad, guess she's just going to have to find a new jungle gym." Tony mentioned, as he came outside to welcome his loyal friend and proceeded to pick Morgan up and onto his shoulders.

"I still don't know how you can take all of that." Happy responded in disbelief.

"Well, I am Iron Man" Tony smirked and patted Happy on the back before going out to his car to assist him with the bags.

"Of course, how could I forget." Happy slyly mentioned under his breath before slamming the trunk of his black Audi.

"Is that my cake daddy?" Morgan exclaimed as she saw the white rectangular box that he was holding as they walked back into the house.

Tony had been in charge of ordering the cake this year and wanted it to be a surprise for Morgan, so he responded "Yes Momo, but you're going to have to wait until it's time to blow out the candles with everyone here to see it."

She was a bit bummed out by her father's statement, but then it also reminded her of the party, and she became excited again, as she was looking forward to playing with and seeing all her friends and family that were coming.

When they had entered the house with all the supplies in tow, Pepper lifted Morgan off Tony's shoulders and sent her to get dressed for the party and then to go play outside while the grown-ups set up. So, off the birthday girl went, skipping her merry way to her purple play tent to throw a grand tea party for her stuffed animals until her guests arrived. In the meantime, Pepper, Tony and Happy hung pink and purple streamers, set out paper plates and plastic cups, tied balloons around the banister on the back porch, set out various snacks, sandwiches, and beverages, all while taking turns keeping a watchful eye on Morgan.

It was about 11:40 when the first guest arrived, as Tony could tell because he watched Morgan rush out from her tent and out of sight towards the driveway. Tony could have guessed who this early arrival was, and his guess was confirmed when he heard his daughter scream out "Uncle Rhodey!" with glee.

Tony dropped the bag of pretzels he was pouring into a bowl and chased after his daughter, making sure his best friend wasn't stupid enough to run her over.

Thankfully, Rhodey successfully parked without any casualties.

"Woah there Mo, take it slow. We don't want to scare uncle Rhodey away there, do we?" Tony proposed, as he intercepted Morgan just in time before she was about to open his door to launch herself onto him for a hug.

Rhodey exited his car with a large red gift bag in one hand and with the other he picked Morgan up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Happy birthday, Morgs! Five years old today, wow what a big girl you are!" He happily beamed, before putting her down.

"Good to see you again, Rhodey! How's DC been treating you, buddy?" Tony inquired, as he put one arm around his friend to lead him inside to the party ready house. He also reached out and took Morgan's smaller hand in his own to make sure she didn't bolt again towards any more guests that may have been arriving early as well.

Once returning back into the house, Morgan stood in awe in the front door frame, admiring the magnificent decorations that had been adorned around the entire first floor of the house.

She snapped out of it when she saw the snack table and rushed over to grab a handful of Cheeto puffs, as playing for almost two hours made the small girl work up quite a large appetite.

Pepper caught her daughter red-handed with her face stuffed with the orange chips and her hand ready in the bowl for another refill.

"Now Honey, don't eat too much before the guests arrive. We need to leave some Cheeto puffs for them too, plus we have sandwiches here for everyone to eat for lunch. They should all be here any minute, let's wait till then." She advised her daughter, as she took Morgan's free hand out of the bowl.

Tony's previous statement about mom always being right held true, because in a matter of minutes the doorbell rang yet again, indicating a most anticipated guest's arrival. This time it was Happy to answer the door, as he was the closest to it.

As the door opened, the Stark household was greeted by the familiar faces of Peter and May Parker as they both held onto a rather large gift box tied up together with a big bow between the two of them.

Happy took the large box from the both of them, and soon afterwards, Peter and Morgan simultaneously ran towards each other meeting in the middle of the family room in a large embrace.

"Petey! I missed you!" Morgan loudly announced once their hug had ended.

"I missed you too Mo, but it has only been like a week since I last saw you." He laughed out and proceeded to get back up off the floor to greet everyone else in the room.

He took a quick glance back at his aunt, whom he noticed was laughing at something Happy had said, and was quick to roll his eyes at the blatant display of flirting both May and Happy were involved in.

Thankfully, Mr. Stark came over to him and embraced him in a hug to take his mind off the probable future of Happy and his aunt dating.

"What's up, Kid, how's school these days? Is that Flash guy still bothering you, because if he is I can come down one of these days and give him a stern talking to." Tony stoically reassured.

Peter knew how worried Mr. Stark could be, but he didn't want him to handle his fights for him. But he was still appreciative of the fact that he was so fiercely protective of him.

"Oh, no Mr. Stark, that's fine. I've got it covered. Thanks for the offer though." He politely responded. "School is going great. We have a field trip coming up during this summer to Italy which I'm really looking forward to."

"Oh, really? That sounds fun. And it sounds like the perfect time to ask a certain someone out on a date. I bet MJ would really love a gondola ride in Venice." Tony mentioned, as he led Peter into the kitchen and offered him a sub.

"Keep your voice down, not everyone knows about the MJ thing." Peter said as he lightly hit Tony in the stomach.

"OK, OK I surrender. But really, if you do, make sure to tell me how it goes." He adds, dropping the topic for good.

More and more guests arrived as the time drew after noon. Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, and Hope van Dyne were next, followed by Clint Barton and his entire family, then Bruce Banner. Even Steve managed to show up alongside Sam Wilson, which was a pleasant surprise.

Everyone was mingling around and happily helping themselves to sandwiches, snacks, and refreshments. After lunch, the grown-ups retired to the living room while the kids split up and did their own thing. Cassie and Lila went off on their own to the dock to talk, Cooper and Nate went out to the back to play catch with a baseball they had to ask Mr. Stark to borrow, meanwhile Morgan and Peter stayed inside and began working on a pillow fort.

Suddenly, the doorbell chimed and everyone turned their heads to the front door. Morgan climbed out from under all the pillows and blankets her and Peter had been working on and followed her father to answer the door.

"Who could that be Morgs?" Tony asked. He knew the answer, as this was her first surprise of the day, and was looking forward to seeing the expression on her face when he opened the door.

"I don't know, daddy." She suspiciously replied, as she reached out to turn the door knob with the help of her dad.

Standing in front of the father-daughter duo was none other than Harley Keener.

"Surprise, Mo!" Harley exclaimed as he took a knee to get down to her level with open arms.

As soon as they were done hugging, he got back up and apologized for being so late to the party due to his flight being delayed. Tony had flown him out from MIT to make sure he could be here for Morgan's special day. Harley had been a part of Morgan's life for a while now, as he had survived the snap and would visit the Starks often, but he hasn't been around that much lately due to his busy life being a college student at MIT.

"Yay Harley's here! Daddy, now can we eat the cake?" Morgan sheepishly questioned.

He laughed at his daughter's obsession with getting to the cake and was grateful to finally grant her wish.

"Yes Mo, I think it's finally cake time. Let's round everyone up first." He instructed and watched her drag Harley outside to go excitedly inform the rest of the kids that it was cake time.

Once everyone convened to the kitchen, they all took their positions around the table with the birthday girl in the middle. Tony obtained the cake from the fridge, made his way next to his daughter, set the white box in front of her, and finally made the big reveal of the cake by opening it up.

The cake was a large chocolate sheet cake with white icing, a red icing border, and an iron man helmet made out of fondant displayed in the middle of yellow frosting text that read 'Happy Birthday Morgan'.

"Did Morgan really ask for that, Honey?" Pepper spoke out from the silence of everyone in awe of the cake.

Tony was too busy admiring the cake that he had forgotten his wife had asked him a question. Peter nudged him and Tony quickly replied back.

"Um, well no, not specifically. She didn't really say what she wanted, so I saw this on the bakery's website and just ordered it."

Most of the adults in the room let out a snicker, as they had assumed Tony had kept up on his arrogant ways and made his daughter's cake be Iron Man centric; however, a small voice suddenly silenced the lingering laughter.

"I love it Daddy! Thank you!" Morgan happily declared.

Tony looked down at his daughter and beamed. He was glad to hear that his daughter was a fan of Iron Man, almost as much as he was a fan of her.

"The only thing that could make this cake better would be if Spider-Man was on it though." She confessed, throwing Tony off a bit.

"Yessss." Peter quietly let out from under his breath, as he couldn't help but do a small fist pump under the table.

Pepper took it upon herself to get everything back on track and started to light all five candles on the cake. The whole house echoed with voices singing happy birthday to Morgan, and then the cake was quickly consumed by all.

The party continued as it was now time for Morgan to open her presents. The Langs had gotten her a variety of different stuffed animals and dolls, the Bartons bought her a day pass to a nearby farm to go horseback riding with her family, Bruce brought a children's science kit, Sam and Steve had together gotten her a couple of board games and craft supplies, Harley had given her a purple MIT sweatshirt that she immediately put on, Peter and May had gotten her a brand new doll house, Rhodey came along with a ton of coloring books and art supplies, and Happy brought two squirt guns with a promise to play with them all throughout the summer.

Last, but not least, was what everyone was waiting for. To see what the last surprise Tony Stark had in store for his daughter's gift. Tony had excused himself and went out to the garage to get the gift. Soon later, he returned back with a large pink box wrapped with a black and white polka dot ribbon.

Morgan's eyes lit up when presented with the giant box. She looked up to her parents with excitement before going to town and ripping that box apart. Many styrofoam peanuts were flying behind her, as she tossed them aside to get to the gift below. What she pulled out made the whole room gasp.

In her grasp was a small purple and pink accented iron man helmet that would fit her perfectly and then she realized that there was one more item in the box as well. She then pulled out a child sized toy web shooter glove that was painted like Spider-Man's suit.

She ran into her father's arms and thanked him for the gifts and then did the same to her mother, before attempting to try them both on.

"Now, Morgan, you need to be very careful with these and mommy and daddy need to establish some rules to go along with them, per mommy's request." Tony stressed, as he helped her into the helmet. "I noticed you like to play with the stuff in the garage, so I thought it would be good to have something of your own to play with." He added.

"Tony, is that safe? Giving a five-year-old a web shooter sounds a bit dangerous." Steve chimed in, genuinely concerned for Morgan's wellbeing.

"Of course, Rogers, these are toys. She's been playing with the real things, so I made her some more high tech toy versions of them that are safe for her." Tony assured the older man.

"Yeah, Steve, I had the same concern, but Tony did promise me that Morgan would be fine playing with these things. Right, Hon?" Pepper chimed in.

"Of course, I would never give her anything that would put her in danger. Now Mo, you have to use this web shooter outside" He responded, as he finished helping her get the glove on.

Once Morgan was all suited up, she immediately ran outside to try out her new toys and everyone followed to see what would ensue.

Morgan's first target with the web shooters was none other than Peter Parker, coincidentally. All of the other kids, including Peter and Harley ran around the backyard trying to avoid the wrath of Morgan Stark.

And that's how the rest of the day unfolded. Morgan was tuckered out from playing super heroes for an hour and a half and found herself being carried back into the house by her father. The whole group retired back into the living room and sat around on couches to watch Morgan and the other kids color together with her new coloring books on the coffee table in the middle of the room. To Morgan, and only being five years old, this was by far the best day of her life. She was surrounded by her uncles Happy and Rhodey, her big brothers Peter and Harley, her friends, and most importantly, her parents. That was what her favorite gift of the day actually was... spending the day with all the people she loved 3000.


	6. Stowaway

Morgan Stark could be found almost every day after school in her backyard tending and caring for Gerald, their faithful family alpaca. She had basically begged her father when she was four years old to get a pet alpaca after seeing one at the fair, and of course, Tony could never say no to his little princess and her puppy dog eyes. Pepper wasn't too keen with the idea of them taking on the responsibility of an alpaca, especially since he's been fond of eating her goji berries; however, as much as she wouldn't like to admit, she has enjoyed having Gerald around.

"Gerald, how's your day going, buddy? Did you miss me?" Morgan asked, as she gently stroked the fleece on his head.

The alpaca simply stuck out his tongue in hopes for another carrot that Morgan had been feeding him.

"Morguna, why don't you come inside sweetie? It looks like it's about to downpour soon." She heard her father call out from the porch.

Looking up at the sky, Morgan noticed that it did indeed look rather dark over the lake and proceeded to coax Gerald inside his stable out of impending rain with the remaining carrots before heading back to the house.

Closing the large wooden door behind her with a creek, she was greeted by both of her parents. They were in the process of making dinner and she seemed to have interrupted an intense discussion of matters concerning Stark Industries, but they had stopped once their daughter had entered the room.

"Hey kiddo, you hungry soon? Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Hope you're feeling like lasagna." Pepper promptly spoke out, as she got a large ceramic bowl from a nearby cabinet.

"Sure, that sounds good." Morgan replied, as she walked up to the kitchen island and sat down next to her father.

Tony was snacking on some blueberries from the plastic carton and nonchalantly passed them closer to his daughter for them to share. Morgan smiled and took a handful of berries and popped them one by one in her mouth.

"Now you two go easy there, I don't want you getting full before dinner." Pepper remarked at the sight of them stuffing their faces.

The father-daughter duo both stopped their hands mid grab of berries, before Tony replied, "You got it boss", and then proceeded to close the carton.

To pass the time, Tony decided to spark up a conversation with Morgan about school. Morgan had been home schooled in order to keep her safe and away from prying eyes. However, Pepper had suggested that she be enrolled in school to socialize and build friendships with kids her age. Morgan was also keen on this idea, and with a two-to-one vote, she started 6th grade in a private middle school. It really was more a two-to-two vote when Happy sided with Tony, but Pepper always won.

"So, Mo, how's school treating you?" Tony inquired, as it had been two months into her middle school experience.

Morgan shifted in her seat slightly before answering, "Well, it's ok. The actual learning part is easy, but the making friends part is sort of hard. I am close to this one girl in my math class, her name is Emily and we sit together. She's like my only friend so far." She confessed to her father.

In truth, Emily was her closest friend and one of her only peers that weren't too shy or scared to talk to her after finding out that she was a Stark. It was cool, yes, but it could be intimidating as well being Iron Man's daughter. Most of the kids that did talk to her weren't looking for friendships, they just wanted to know more about her father and weren't interested in knowing more about her, well except Emily.

"That's okay Honey, give it some more time and I'm sure they will loosen up to you." Tony assured her and reached out to rub her back.

"Emily sounds nice, why don't you invite her over sometime to hang out or do homework together?" Pepper chimed in, as she laid the noodles on top of the base of the lasagna.

"Yeah that sounds fun, maybe next week I will. Oh, and also speaking of next week, it's take your kid to work day and Emily mentioned about going with her dad to his job, so it can't be next Tuesday." Morgan replied.

"Oh, I didn't know that take your child to work day was next Tuesday. You want to go to the office with me? I can cancel my lunch meeting and we can make a day of it!" Pepper excitedly proposed.

Morgan hesitated a bit before replying, "Uh, that's ok mom. I wasn't really planning to go. I'm fine with just going to school on Tuesday. It's no big deal."

Morgan had been to Stark Industries countless amounts of times and did not feel the need to bother her mom and tag along Tuesday. She didn't even take the form to request the day off when it was passed out last week at school because she had her mind already made up.

By the time they had finished discussing Morgan's time at school, the oven's timer had chirped and the family of three shared a nice meal together.

Once everything was properly put away and cleaned up, it was common for the Stark family to conglomerate to the family room after dinner and watch either a TV show or movie together on Friday nights. They had settled into their familiar seats on the couch and had decided on an episode of America's Got Talent to watch. As Tony was almost to the point of dozing off on his wife's shoulder, he was abruptly awoken to the sound of his cell phone ringing in the kitchen. Not just his personal cell phone, it was his business phone. Business as in Avengers business.

Tony had been slowly entering retirement ever since Morgan was born, but he did not want to give up Iron Man fully, so he had arranged an agreement with Shield to help out the Avengers only if it was necessary. These larger scope missions usually occurred once every couple of months, but they were important and meant that Tony had to answer the phone and not send Nick Fury to voicemail.

"What was that about dad?" Morgan questioned, poking her head up from the couch looking back at him.

Pepper got up from her seat and joined her husband in the kitchen. She always dreaded these calls and worried for Tony whenever he left Morgan and her to go off Avenging, but knew that he would always come back to them.

"Looks like I'm needed in Germany this time. Fury said it's getting pretty bad and they need some extra assistance. It should only be a couple of days max I promise. I'll tell Happy to get the jet ready for tomorrow." He sighed and kissed Pepper on her temple before meeting Morgan back on the couch.

"Sorry kid, but I got to call it a night and go pack. I'll see you in the morning before I go. Night, Morguna. I love you three thousand." He lovingly stated, as he kissed her on the top of her head before heading upstairs.

As Tony left, Pepper went back to her seat on the couch to rejoin her daughter who was sporting a rather disappointed look on her face.

"I know you were looking forward to spending some time with your father this weekend, but we could make it a girls' weekend if you'd like? Just the two of us." She suggested, trying to make the best of their forthcoming situation.

Suddenly, Morgan Stark had thought of a brilliant idea. She had always been planning to spend the weekend with her father, so why not tag along with him on the mission? Take your child to work day was approaching, so why couldn't she go see her dad's job? Her parents would never allow Morgan to go on a mission and be subjected to the dangerous situations that come with being an Avenger, especially with her being only eleven, so she had to make this a covert operation. The plan was formulating in her brain, but the hardest part was finding a way to sneak out and somehow get on her dad's jet without being noticed. Something about an earlier conversation sparked a solution to this tiny problem…. her friend Emily lived in the city close to the airport.

"A girls' weekend sounds great mom, but what if I go to Emily's for the weekend and have a sleepover girls' weekend with her instead? We've been talking about it for a while, so can I call her and see?" Morgan begged.

Pepper was unsure about this idea initially, as she hadn't met Emily or her parents before, but she wanted her daughter to have strong friendships and be more outgoing, so she allowed Morgan to reach out to Emily.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Morgan exclaimed, as she hugged and kissed her mother on the cheek, then ran up the steps to her room to let her friend be in the know of her secret plan.

Everything seemed to be going just as planned. Pepper had arranged for Morgan to ride with Tony and Happy into the city to be dropped off at Emily's house before they arrived at the airport. Morgan was doing some last minute packing before they departed. She had the usual sleepover items: toothbrush, toothpaste, pajamas, extra clothes, some money, etc, that would be of use on the mission, but she remembered something extra that would be extremely handy on the mission as well. She got out her backpack to conceal her purple/pink Iron Man helmet and web shooters and wrapped them up in a blanket so her parents wouldn't suspect anything. Who knows what dangers she would face in Germany? She would rather go semi-protected and ready to defend herself, than relying on her father and the Avengers to do so, especially since none of them knew she was coming.

Morgan made her way downstairs, quickly ate a bowl of cereal, hugged and kissed her mom goodbye, then made her way out the door... her mission awaits.

"Ready to go, Squirt?" Happy asked, as he opened the door for the youngest Stark.

Morgan happily threw her duffle bag in the trunk of the black Audi and slid into the backseat with her backpack. She was a little nervous about everything and was overthinking all the different scenarios of how this day could play out in her mind. What if she couldn't get to the airport from Emily's house? Or, what if she was discovered by her father before they took off and was sent back home? All these worries were a possibility, but Morgan's mind was made up and she was doing this no matter what.

Tony came into the car shortly after Morgan, as he was saying his goodbye to Pepper.

"You make sure Madame Secretary gets there safe and introduce yourself to Emily's parents then report back to me okay?" Pepper requested, as she was worried about her daughter going somewhere unfamiliar an hour and a half away for the weekend.

Tony engulfed Pepper in an embrace to ease her worries and replied, "Of course, I would never just dump her off at Emily's without making sure she'll be okay there."

Pepper smiled softly at his comment, as she broke away from their hug.

"As for you, Tony, you make sure to be safe in Germany and call me at least twice a day. Come back home to me in one piece and keep an eye on Peter too. I know he's twenty-two, but he is still just a kid and I worry about him out there on Avengers missions too." She stressed, before going in to kiss her husband goodbye.

The kiss lasted a while, as Morgan and Happy sat uncomfortably in the car watching the scene unfold in front of them, but it was a cherished and much needed moment between husband and wife.

"I promise I'll be safe, look out for the kid, and I'll always come back home to you. I love you, Pep." He assured before leaving her side and heading to join Happy and Morgan in the car.

After an hour and a half in the car listening to AC/DC, a quick stop at McDonald's for cheeseburgers, and a brief parental talk from Tony to Morgan about sleepover rules, they made it to Emily's house.

Tony and Happy went up to the door with Morgan and were greeted by Emily and her parents. They were initially shocked to see Tony Stark at their doorstep, but eventually they realized that he was just a normal guy and a concerned father, and they befriended him and Happy quite easily.

After a quick tour of the house and some small talk to get to know each other better, everything seemed to have checked out and Tony was at peace with letting his daughter stay the weekend at Emily's, so he texted Pepper to let her know as promised. With a tearful goodbye, he hugged his daughter and then took off to the airport with Happy. What he didn't know at the time was that they would be seeing each other sooner than he expected.

"So, your dad is really going to Germany to fight with the Avengers right now?" Emily stated in awe, as the girls stood outside the front door and watched the black Audi drive away.

"Yeah, and so we got to move fast to get there. His flight takes off in about thirty minutes and it's a ten minute drive from here. Your brother Henry is sixteen right?" Morgan inquired, turning to face her friend.

"Yeah, he can drive us. You got the money?" Emily replied.

"A hundred bucks should do it I hope." She responded, reaching into the pocket of her sweatshirt to make sure the crisp hundred dollar bill was still there.

Morgan had thought everything through to make sure that it all would go smoothly as planned. She knew she couldn't let Emily's parents know that she would be sneaking out, or else they would call her mom, so she had planned on Emily's older brother dropping her off at the airport and keeping their little secret safe if she bribed him enough. They would then tell Emily's parents that he was going to drop them off at a movie and pick them up later at night. Then Emily would cover for her until the morning when Morgan would most likely have alerted her presence to her father in Germany, so by then everyone, including her mother, would have known.

With some monetary persuasion to Henry and a little white lie to Emily's parents, the plan was in full swing and they were on their way to the airport.

"So, you're sure that Iron Man won't beat me up for doing this, right kid?" Henry hesitantly questioned, legitimately concerned about the repercussions of assisting Tony Stark's daughter run away to Germany.

"Yup, I'm pretty sure. It will just be me that will be getting in all the trouble at the end of this, you guys will probably be fine." Morgan assured the worried teenager, as she sat in the back double checking she had everything she needed in her backpack.

"Great. The things I do for a hundred bucks." He slyly mentioned under his breath, but continued to drive on.

Their timing to arrive at the airport was right on the dot. She had about fifteen minutes to sneak on the jet and settle in somewhere well hidden before her dad and Happy would board, as they were checking in at the airport currently.

Morgan had Henry and Emily help her hop the fence around the airfield and, with her backpack securely around her shoulders, she sprinted towards the Stark Industries jet. The only part of the plan that wasn't fully determined yet was her hiding spot in the jet. Sure, she had been in her family's jet a couple of times, but she didn't know every crevice and corner of the plane, as she mainly sat and didn't stray from her seat while flying.

Hastily looking around, she scoured the jet to find a suitable hiding place that would have enough room for both her and her backpack and wouldn't be too cramped for the eight hour flight. After about five minutes of seeing all her options, she decided to settle in to one of the food storage cabinets in the kitchen area. Soon after, she was startled by the sound of approaching footsteps indicating her father and Happy's arrival.

And just like that, they were off and on their way to Germany. All Morgan could do during the flight was figure out exactly how and when she would reveal herself to her dad and pray that she wouldn't be discovered mid-flight, because they would surely turn the jet around, and she couldn't let that happen. She knew a month long or even longer grounding was in store for her, but the chance of seeing and potentially fighting alongside her dad and the rest of the Avengers was going to make everything worth it.

Thankfully, she wasn't discovered in the eight hour period and was able to sleep for most of the time, but she was awoken by all the turbulence upon landing. Once she confirmed the coast was clear and that everyone was off the jet, she quietly opened the cabinet and swiftly exited the jet into the unknown woodland surroundings of Germany.

As her tennis shoes met the loose gravel beneath her, Morgan caught sight of her father and followed him close enough behind to not be heard and noticed. They seemed to have landed near a temporary Avengers campsite. There were various sized tents, campfires, and Shield agents scattered all around the site.

Luckily, she had been wearing an all black stealth outfit and she was small enough to not be seen sneaking into the camp at this time of night. She made a mental note of the tent, one of the largest ones which was easy to remember, that her dad had went into and remained outside of the perimeter behind a large tree, waiting for the right moment, where there weren't as many agents around, to make her way into the camp.

Unfortunately, there was a change of plans as she heard a loud crash behind her. All the occupants in the tent, which happened to be her dad and all the Avengers rushed out all suited up in pursuit of the cause of the disturbance.

"Uh oh, this can't be good." Morgan stated to herself, just now realizing the danger she had put herself in. She was scared, but she was also starstruck to see her dad flying off in the Iron Man suit with the rest of her heroes following him.

She took out her helmet and web shooters from her backpack, put them on, and proceeded to follow them and find a good spot to watch from a safe distance. After a few minutes of running through the dense forest, she came across a scene of some sort of spaceship crashed in the middle of a lake. Morgan climbed a nearby tree and used her helmet to get a better view of everything happening down below.

Her sight was mainly focused on her father, making sure that nothing happened to him, but she also looked around and noticed that almost every Avenger was ready to fight besides him. Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, The Wasp, The Guardians of the Galaxy, War Machine, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, the Hulk, The Winter Soldier, Doctor Strange, The Black Panther, Spider-Man, and even Captain Marvel were all in attendance and battle ready. It must have been pretty serious if Thor, The Guardians, and Captain Marvel were called in from being off world.

So far, there was no threat detected and everything was quiet, that was until the large metal door of the ship began to creak as it slowly rose open and unleashed a swarm of alien monsters. The fight was epic and everything Morgan was hoping for. She witnessed her dad take down aliens left and right like it was nothing. The fight lasted about forty-five minutes until Captain Marvel had managed to take down the final few monsters standing.

That had to be hands down the coolest thing Morgan had seen in her entire life. She had grown up hearing stories of Avengers' past missions from her father, but seeing one take place right before her eyes was so much better and something she would never forget.

She had stayed up in that tree until the coast was clear. Thankfully, she had remembered the way back to the campsite and the soft glow of the campfires in the distance guided her way.

Meanwhile, back at the base, the Avengers had re-grouped back in the tent to celebrate their latest victory from the Zorn aliens. Champagne bottles were popping, everyone had glasses in hand, and Tony had taken it upon himself to stand up and make a speech. The room fell silent when he took the floor.

"Well, great job tonight guys. Because of our teamwork, what was thought to be a fight spanning multiple days, was wrapped up under an hour. Really an all-time record, this one's for the books. Now we can celebrate and go home or go back to whatever you guys were up to. You know I love fighting alongside you guys, but hate leaving my family behind for so long, so if you can keep these missions short and sweet, like this one, that would be great." He jokingly stated, causing a couple of laughs to emerge throughout the tent.

War Machine then stood up with his glass in hand to make a toast, "Here's to the Avengers."

"The Avengers." Everyone resounded and got up on their feet to join in.

Suddenly, their group moment was interrupted by Nick Fury who stormed in with a smaller figure in his grasp.

"Stark, if this is yours, you have some explaining to do!" Fury angrily demanded, as he forced the figure into the bright lights of the tent.

"Lay off man!" Voiced what appeared to be a young girl sporting a pinkish purple Iron Man helmet, which was immediately stripped off by Fury, revealing none other than eleven-year-old Morgan Stark.

All the Avengers were standing in awe at the scene before them. They had a lot of questions, but no one could verbally form a complete sentence, except for Tony Stark…

"Morgan H. Stark, what the hell are you doing here?! Actually, no, how the hell did you get here?!" He snapped and stepped closer to his daughter.

Morgan was basically a deer in headlights. She hated being yelled at by her father, especially making a scene in front of all the Avengers, but she had expected something like this to happen.

"Well, I-" She attempted to answer, before her father had surprised her and took a knee to hold her in his embrace.

"Do you know what kind of danger you put yourself in by being here? I couldn't live with myself if I lost you today." He admitted, shedding some tears of how emotional the thought of losing his daughter would be.

This made Morgan cry as well, realizing that she had screwed up and had ultimately disappointed her father.

"I just wanted to see you in action and fight with the Avengers. I just wanted to be like you daddy." She confessed, collapsing into his lap on the floor.

"I get that sweetie, I really do, but what I do is dangerous and you're nowhere old enough or ready to be subjected to any of this. You could have been seriously injured tonight." He added.

She looked back up at him before explaining herself to him.

"I know, but I kept my distance and was up in a tree the entire time. I even brought my helmet and web shooters just in case." She sniffed, wiping her nose in her sleeve.

"Honey, you were very brave today and I am so thankful that nothing happened to you, but you do know that you are in major trouble for going through with this. I am so dead after I tell your mother about this." He spoke out, scared of the impending wrath of his wife.

Rhodey was the first of the Avengers to speak up, "Yeah Pepper will definitely kill you, Tones."

"How exactly did you get here Morgan? I'm actually very curious how you managed to sneak past Tony." Scott chimed in.

"Well, I kind of got my friend's brother to drive me to the airport, then hopped the fence at the airport, hid in the jet until we landed and then followed dad here." Morgan tried her best to explain, as she managed to subside her tears.

She was looking around the room at all the Avengers staring at her. She was shaken up a bit because until now, she didn't know most of their secret identities, as her parents didn't want her to find out too young and risk her accidentally relaying this information to her classmates. Sure, she had seen all these people before as they visited her house often, but she didn't know that like her uncle Scott was Ant-Man!

"Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling extreme deja vu right now?" A voice in the corner of the tent chimed in.

Morgan turned her attention in the direction only to be met by an unmasked Peter Parker sporting the Iron-Spider suit. She immediately forgot about all the trouble she was currently in, as she saw her older brother standing before her…

"PETER, YOU'RE SPIDER-MAN!"

 **A/N: Now Morgan knows everyone's identities. Not exactly how Tony wanted her to find out, but what's done is done. Peter was feeling deja vu similar to how he snuck onto Thanos' ship in Infinity War to prove himself and fight with Tony, so I wanted to have that parallel with Morgan. Apologies for the large break in updates, but I was working this Summer and I had a week off before college starts back up, so I wanted to post this chapter before I get busy again. Shout out to my friend MiraculouslyTrashy for editing this chapter. Fun fact: she actually edited it while waiting in line for the We Love You 3000 Tour where she got Anthony Russo to sign her copy of Endgame.**


	7. Rescue Me

**A/N: This chapter is done by my friend MiraculouslyTrashy. She wrote this a couple of months ago and allowed me to share it on this story. All credit goes to her, so please go give her a follow and check out her work on FFN, or Wattpad, or AO3. She is a wonderful author and is extra amazing because she edits all my chapters before they go up, so a massive thanks to her.**

"Morgan's finally down," Pepper sighs, settling onto the couch next to Tony, turning on the baby monitor resting on the table.

He wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, "I think that's a new record time for you too. Someday you'll be as fast as me." He chides, kissing her temple.

She rolls her eyes, but knows he's right, "She loves your voice. I've seen her roll over to the bars of the crib so she can watch you read Dr. Suess."

"Really? I haven't noticed?" He smiles cheekily, popping a few goji berries in his mouth.

Pepper nabs some berries away from his bowl, "Well now, we have the rest of the night to ourselves... maybe we could have some adultfun, no baby talk or stuffed animals..."

Tony sits up, "I know just what you have in mind." He stands up and holds out his hand, "Close your eyes and follow me, Mrs. Stark."

She grins and closes her eyes, placing her hand in his. He leads her through the cottage, even spinning her to disorient her slightly along the way, "Tony..." she complains after being spun.

"Almost there," he assures her, stopping to open a door and guiding her through.

As soon as her bare feet cross the threshold she knows where she is, sensing the change in flooring. "Tony." She says more sternly, opening her eyes to find herself in the garage as suspected.

This isn't the garage where Tony and his family keep their cars, or at least it had been before he decided to build a separate garage for them to make more room for his 'toys'. His tinkerings and projects very quickly outgrew the small workbench that stood against the wall of the garage. Pepper knew it was only inevitable before the whole space became his to work in. "What do you want to show me?" She asks him, the same thing she asks every time her husband coaxes her out here.

He knows that tone of voice well, "Stick with me, don't run away yet. We're still going to have fun, I promise. Think of this as an early anniversary gift." He says, backing up towards a sturdy metal cabinet, past a chamber of swirling nanotech bots.

"Sometimes your definition of fun is different from my definition of the term," she raises an eyebrow, but follows him, nonetheless.

A keypad appears on the cabinet's surface as Tony approaches, prompting him to quickly enter a 6-digit code. The doors automatically slide apart, revealing a new sleek, steel blue, ironman suit.

The sight of the suit doesn't exactly surprise Pepper, but it does take her a moment to realize that the proportions of the suit are different than usual. "This... this is for me?"

Tony's face would have normally been beaming with pride when showing off his new tech and inventions, but his demeanor is serious instead. "Yes. Just in case"

"In case of what?" She probes gently, still walking closer to him and the suit.

He presses his lips together and shrugs, "In case. In case, in case you need to get Morgan out of here and to the safehouse. In case I'm not around to protect you guys. In case Thanos-"

"Tony, please," she begs, cutting off his rambling, "I don't want to think about any of that, not now." She holds a hand to his cheek, and he closes his eyes. "I understand where you're coming from, but I can't." She shakes her head slightly, sighing.

Tony opens his eyes and sighs, "I know, but this is the only way I know how to protect you. You andMorgan. If anything happened to you two," his voice strains, he clears his throat and continues, "I couldn't live with myself. So, this is really a precaution for my own sake, as well." He gestures and lets his hand fall against his leg. "The code is Morguna's birthday."

Pepper cracks a sad smile, reaching up and wiping a stray smudge of grease on Tony's cheek. "Alight. I'll keep the suit in mind,"

His shoulders relax at that simple promise. "Thank you, Pep." He kisses her forehead, holding her against his chest. "Hey, I promised you we'd have some fun, so... please humorme and let me guide you through using the suit."

She looks up at his exaggerated, goofy grin, unable to turn him down, "Fine, as long as it doesn't wake Madam Secretary."

He beams, guiding her a few steps back from the cabinet, angling her in relation to the suit. "Promise. So, all you have to do is call 'Rescue'. I've already attuned it to your voice patterns, hope you don't mind." He waves his hand over the workbench, pulling up a holo-display of the suit's readouts.

Pepper takes a deep breath, "What's going to happen when I call it?" She asks for clarification, worried about what she's gotten herself into.

One of his hands rubs the small of her back, while his attention is really on the display graphics in front of him, "It's just gonna put itself on ya, introduce itself." He makes a small adjustment to one of the levels, "Go ahead, I'm right here."

"Okay..." she clears her throat, "Rescue?" She states in a clear voice, causing the eyes of the suit to glow. It steadily propels itself from the cabinet, it's front face opening up to allow Pepper to step inside. She turns and steps back into the armor, letting it close in around her. Pepper is able to remain calm through the process, given she's not a complete stranger to being inside one of Tony's suits.

With a final click, the helmet adjusts itself into place and a display pops up inside the suit for her, "Nice to see you, Mrs. Stark" a familiar AI welcomes.

"Thanks, Friday." She replies; a soft whirringradiates off the joints of the armor as she accustoms herself with the suit.

Tony looks over the readings one more time before turning to his wife, "You doing okay in there? Not too constricting?" He reaches for her hands, taking one in each of his and guides her through some arm circles.

"It feels fine, Tony." She smirks inside the suit, now glad to let her husband run his exams on the suit and her.

He lets her arms down, smiling to himself, "Friday, let's go for a walk." He instructs, causing the garage door to open as he leads Pepper into the cool night air. "How's your mobility? You should be able to walk feel like you're walking normally, and not wearing a quarter ton of metal."

She follows him out onto their gravel driveway, "Um, yeah, feels pretty natural so far." She nods, and it's true. There was still a bit more effort to move in the suit but just barely, it easily compensated for its own weight and the strategically placed joints and rotators made it effortless to move.

Their feet crunch on the gavel, putting a good distance between them and the house. "The suit is pretty intuitive," Tony goes on, "it's able to infer from your body language what you want to do. So, hover for me please."

"Now?" She questions.

"Well I believe the saying 'you gotta walk before you can fly' holds true and you seem to be walking just fine. Besides, it's the next best thing to seeing you in heels." He smirks, taking a half step back from her.

She sighs, "It's 'walk before you can run'."

"Same thing, just go for it." He waves off while encouraging her.

She plants her feet, trying to gain a solid foundation before she even attempts to fly in this new suit, trying to learn its intricacies. Taking a steadying breath, she lifts up her heels slightly and the suit instantaneously takes over, the boosters under her feet kicking in.

A blue glow emanates from under her soles as she begins to hover about a foot off the ground. She attempts to remain still to keep her balance, but finds the opposite is needed to maintain a stable flight. She loosens up, self-correcting her posture to stay in front of Tony.

The smile across Tony's face was almost as proud as the one he made when Morgan took her first steps. "You've still got it in you," he nods, "you think you can take a lap across the lake and back?"

Gaining some confidence, she boosts higher and starts her arch across the lake. Tony tracks her on his portable display, looking up occasionally and smiling.

Once she touches back down on their side of the lake, her face plate lifts up, "Satisfied?"

"Almost. Send a repulsor beam at that tree." He points to a fairly large tree near the edge of the water, "Make a dent in it."

She makes a face, "I don't want to singe our trees, Morgan will see them and wonder what happened."

"So, I'll wave one of her stuffed animals in her face and she'll forget all about it." He justifies, pulling up a video recorder on his display.

"I'm less easily distracted," she notes, "I don't want to ruin the natural beauty of this place, it's why we chose this area." She reminds him, trying not to lose her temper.

"I wanted to live out here so I could get an alpaca" Tony counters, "Just one little zap won't hurt the tree."

She scoffs, "Fine!" She flicks her wrist up towards the tree trunk, sending a massive blast of energy its way, tearing the tree in half with a terrible rip.

Pepper gasps, pulling her arm back as they both watch the top of the tree collapse into the lake, sending waves across the water.

She steps out of the suit and covers her face with her hands.

Tony comes up behind her and puts an arm around her shoulders, "I'll turn down the sensitivity, I think." He says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, but she doesn't look up. He sighs and kisses her temple, "I'm sorry I got you worked up."

She slowly lowers her hands and wraps them around his waist, "I hope we never have to use this suit." She laments, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

He holds his wife close, "Me too."

He suddenly gets an alert on his display, flashing red across the screen.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Pepper worries, dropping her arms and turning towards the holo-display from his wrist.

Tony nods gravely, "I'm afraid so." He touches the alert, bringing him to a live feed of the nursery, "Morgan's awake." He dramatically, seeing their child restlessly rolling around in her crib.

Pepper sighs, "Well, I probably woke her up, so I'll go." She turns to head for the house.

He puts a hand on her shoulder, "I'll go. You can put Rescue back in the cabinet."

She smiles gratefully, kissing him on the cheek, "She doeslove her daddy's voice."

He kisses her back before treading towards the house, "Meet you in bed?" he calls back.

Nodding, she steps into the Rescue suit, "Definitely, I'm exhausted." She hovers her way into the garage.

Tony yawns, "Same. Might end up crashing in Morguna's rocking chair, on second thought."

By the time he reaches the garage, Pepper has already locked the suit away. "Then maybe I'll come with you, make it a sleepover."

He chuckles, "I think Morgan would really like that."


End file.
